. Author manuscript; available in PMC: 2011 Mar 16.

Published in final edited form as: Neuropeptides. 2010 Nov 2;44(6):457–466. doi: 10.1016/j.npep.2010.08.003

Table 2.

Reduced Levels of Neuropeptides in Cathepsin L Knockout Mice

Neuropeptide	Tissue	Wild-Type	Cathepsin L Knockout
Met-Enkephalin	Brain Cortex	100%	44%
NPY	Brain Cortex	100%	22%
CCK8	Brain Cortex	100%	75%
Dynorphin A	Brain Cortex	100%	25%
Dynorphin B	Brain Cortex	100%	17%
α-neoendorphin	Brain Cortex	100%	10%
ACTH	Pituitary	100%	23%
β-Endorphin	Pituitary	100%	18%
α-MSH	Pituitary	100%	7%

Results of tissue levels of several neuropeptides in brain cortex and pituitary in cathepsin L knockout mice compared to wild-type controls (100%) are illustrated (Yasothornsrikul et al., 2003; Funkelstein et al., 2008a, b; Beinfeld et al., 2009; Minokadeh et al., 2010). Substantial decreases in levels of these neuropeptides occur in cathepsin L knockout mice compared to control wild-type mice. These data indicate a role of cathepsin L in neuropeptide production.